COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONThis years Holiday Ale is a Belgian-style Saison. We started with a strong wheat beer and fermented it with a special blend of Belgian yeasts. The Belgian Yeasts add spicy and fruity overtones which we matched with some grains of paradise for a peppery background and very modest amounts of orange peel and corriander for a light citrus edge. This beer is served unfiltered and highly carbonated after the fashion of these traditional Belgian Farmhouse Ales.
O.G. 16 P., 25 IBUs.

Draft: Hazy caramel. Sticky foam of dense bubbles. Minerals, honeyed toast, and flowery hops in the aroma. Anise esters and orange whispers. Delicate carbonation but effervescently prickly, to boot. Tingly foundation of chalky yeast supports an influx of flowery hops and coriander, which softens the firm, minerally body. Delectable esters display hints of anise and passionfruit. Body remains juicily hoppy and melony with a thick honeyed malt spine. It’s dry and spicily yeasty enough to stave off some of the orange peels, which impart more sweetness than they do delicate acidity. Grains of Paradise “heat” in the finish emphasizes coarseness of the yeast and mineral notes. Pretty good interpretation, although it’s still oversweet, overspiced, and too yeasty.

Pleasant plummy-banana-apple aroma. Murky light brown/dirty blond color. Tint of alcohol in nose. Flavor is a bit too yeasty but still a nice depth of chewy, fluffy malt and appley yeast. Good for a domestic saison.

UPDATED: JAN 11, 2005 Well Indra beat me to it because it took me two days to get my notes in. 5oz sample. O.G. 16/1064. Hops 25IBU. Orange cloudy color, off white head. The sample glasses are not good at indicating the amount or length of the head, but there was some nice lacing on my glass. The aroma is citrusy, like orange peels and is sweetish. The flavor was malt, citrus, orange with some hops for a nice dry finish. The taste and smell reminded me of candied orange peels. Enjoyable beer. - I have since drank several glasses of it at the brewery and drank it from a growler my buddy brought to a party. This is good stuff. I didn’t re-rate, but just wanted to put another comment on it.

Sweet, fruity aroma, plenty of yeast esters and citrus with notes of coriander, orange and banana, some faint lemon tartness and vanilla. Largely opaque medium orange color with an off-white, creamy head yielding thick sheets of lace. Flavor profile is fruity, sweet and tart, some peach, melon and pear lending an almost tropical quality, more orange and lemony citrus. Malt is honeyish and sweet. Some melon and spice in the finish, which is moderately acidic and lightly bitter as well. Effervescent on the palate with a medium-full body. Malty and fruity! Large amounts of yeast character but enough malt to give it a good backbone. Some refreshing and very Witbier-ish attributes.

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